Edge of sanity

Intrada presents the premiere release of composer Frédéric Talgorn's first film score: the 1989 MGM horror film Edge of Sanity. His approach to scoring the film, as with many of his scores after this first venture, comes from the orchestral tradition created by many film music legends. As he describes in the liner notes, “I’m from a mid-70s generation of people who discovered film music when John Williams put symphonic scoring back on the map. I realized the power of what you could do for the cinema with orchestral music thanks to composers like him, Jerry Goldsmith and Miklós Rózsa.” Bringing a fresh voice to a legacy of music scores sprawling decades behind him, Edge of Sanity brims with strong themes, fierce action, eerie suspense and even some brief moments of pastoral joy. Talgorn proved right out of the gate that he could bring a level of sophistication and artistry to any film he might score.

Seemingly lost for decades until its recent discovery in DAT format by the composer, the breadth of the music’s brash, richly melodic transgression remains as wonderfully shocking as ever, no more so than to Talgorn. “When I listen now, I’m surprised by some of this music,” he remarks. “You write what you are, and my obsession was to write for an orchestra. I didn’t even think of doing anything else, because the greatest film music I knew was orchestral. The energy you feel in this score comes from that beginner’s enthusiasm because I wanted to show what I could do." This long overdue album was well worth the wait. Talgorn produced the album for Intrada, with Doug Schwartz responsible for mastering.